The hotspots
If asked to point out the troubled spots regarding fresh water in the world, most people immediately think about of Middle East or North Africa. Yes, these areas definitely are not out of the trouble map, but they are not alone.
Other than having the water available, water scarcity can be caused by different situations, like political tension or simply lack of money. Wars, lack of infrastructure, corruption, bad projects, booming populations and global warming combine to cause man problems in obtaining his share of water.
The current world situation is far from comfortable, but is set to get worse, especially in some spots where the water shortage is already reaching critical levels. Here are some of them:
OGALALLA
US themselves cannot avoid having trouble with water shortages despite all the resources available. High-spending irrigation depleted one of the biggest aquifers of America, the Ogallala aquifer, one of the main sources of water for farmers in eight of the mid-west states, but after a century of intense use, the aquifer’s resources are endangered.
MEXICO CITY
Heavy use of water resources has also put Mexico City in serious problems. The world’s most populated city is set to have severe water shortage in the next decades because the underground reservoirs were drained. Increasing population and a high leakage level – around 30% - draw a dreadful picture. “It is certainly one of the most complex scenarios in the world”, affirms Ian Hart, from the Pacific Institute.
CHINA
North China has almost 45% of its gigantic 1.2 billion people population, but less than 15% of the country’s water resources. Major cities like Beijing can run completely out of water in a 10 year period, according to experts. The situation in the countryside is difficult to assess as there are no reliable figures available.
ARAL SEA
Following the megalomaniac projects of the end of the communist soviet regime, Kazakhstan inherited the worst man-created natural disaster. The world’s fourth biggest lake lost more than 90% of its size after its riparians were diverted to irrigate cotton crops in Ukraine. Now, the region has terrifying landscapes, with ships sunk in the middle of the desert, the highest child mortality rates in the world and possible solutions out of sight.
TURKEY
The best water served country in the Middle East, Turkey increases the tensions in the area with controversial projects for hydroelectrical plants and major dams like the Ilisu Dam, which will displace around 60,000 people in the Kurdistan area, one of the most delicate political questions of the region. A system of more than 20 small dams in the Tigris and Eufrates rivers is also potentially explosive as it could affect the water supply of Syria and Iraq.
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
In addition to several specific points of tension like the Nile and Tigris basins, the region is also the driest part of the world regarding fresh water. With only 2% of the planet water resources, the Middle East has already around 450 million people and the prediction for 2050 is that this figure will double. And with the highest withdrawal levels in the world, the modest resources could even diminish before then.
ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
Naturally tense, the region wouldn’t need water issues to spark conflicts, but it has then anyway. Israel controls most of the water in the region and the supply inside Palestinian areas is much worse than the minimum necessary. Famous and unknown conflicts in the area often arise as Israeli settlers are given much more water than thirsty Palestinians. The Sea of Galilee, the biggest water reservoir in the region, is under threat of becoming too saline for depletion.
NILE RIVER
The most important basin in Africa, the Nile river is one of the most likely sources of conflicts in the world. Its basin covers around 10% of the continent and the surrounding areas are the cradle of the civilization. A 1929 treaty forbids any country from using an amount of water big enough to diminish the water flow entering Egypt. However, recent dams and irrigation projects created rifts amongst the nine countries crossed by the river.
LAKE CHAD
One of the richest of Africa’s lakes has lost 95% of its size in the last 50 years. The lake used to have borders in Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon, but it has became a small reservoir between Chad and Cameroon. Human action plus weather change and the increased use of water for agriculture turned the area into a nightmare, with a saline unfertile land and rampant poverty.
SENEGAL RIVER
A dispute erupted in 2000 between Senegal in Mauritania regarding the management of the water supplies of the Senegal river for irrigation, leading to an isolated conflict. However, it is a sign of how the issue could lead to violence in similar areas.
